Pharmaceuticals

Nearly a third of Australian pharmacists are recommending complementary medicine products that are not supported by hard evidence — so why are chemists stocking them and do your herbal supplements actually work?

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer will close its Adelaide manufacturing plant, which makes and exports a chemotherapy drug, in less than five years, despite plans as little as a year ago to expand the site into a "state-of-the-art" facility.

The federal government is planning to fast track new cancer treatments, but it can't come quickly enough for Melbourne woman Deborah Sims. Diagnosed with chronic lymphotic leukaemia, Deborah has paid her own way to be part of a trial in London, costing her hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Finding 'the pill' that's right for you often means trying different options. But lower-income women face an injustice; they are locked out of the full range of pills because pretty much all the new generation pills are not subsidised and so cost more.

Researchers in the US have discovered an antibody that could delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease and, one day, maybe even help cure it. Melbourne's Florey Institute is the birthplace of the original groundbreaking research 30 years ago, and is now part of a global study looking for volunteers.